A local teacher and DJ is set to release a new song covering the theme of mental health.

Chris Steriopolus, otherwise known as ‘Chris Sterio’, works at Castle Rushen High School teaching and supervising cover lessons - and then records mixes for radio and for online streaming in the evenings and weekends.

The 48-year-old started DJ’ing in the mig-1990s, before moving into events, production, promotion, journalism and label management.

‘Music mostly compliments my teaching job,’ he said.

‘Most of my live gigs seem not to go into the early hours these days which helps with the energy levels.

‘Once, I was working closely with a student at school and I was looking for a female vocalist at the time for one my tracks. Weirdly, the vocalist we ended up working with had a very similar name to the student - maybe it was a sign from the universe that my day job was linked more closely to my music activities than I thought!’

Chris’s new single ‘Thoughts’ has been influenced by themes of mental health, philosophical ideologies such as Buddhism, and the work of various psychologists.

It explores the idea that thoughts are shaped by external environments and are not representative of one's true self - a concept that Chris said can be ‘both comforting and unsettling’.

The track was co-written with Stan Seba, a German artist based in South Korea, who brings an ‘Eastern perspective’ to the collaboration. The duo began working together online last year and have since created 14 tracks.

‘The East have a different take on the world in general and Stan has seen both sides of the coin,’ Chris added.

‘The process is generally that I compose some vox and synth parts which I send to Sebastian for him to write around. He sends me drafts which we fine tune and then we both get involved in finding a label for our tracks.’

As well as collaborating with Stan Seba, Chris is also currently working with other artists in South Korea, Germany and the UK.

These collaborations - Stan Seba (South Korea), Michael Kortenhaus (Germany) and Andrew Byrnecome (Preston) - have occurred after Chris received support from them for his online DJ sets, as well as having shared contacts through record labels.

Asked how the general reception has been towards his tracks, Chris added: ‘The feedback is almost always positive - knowing your audience when playing live is important.

‘I have been playing regularly on Port Erin Beach for the Deep South Festival over the last few years. I tend to play house and dance classics plus one or two of my own tracks there. My online sets are more underground and progressive.

‘My family have been supportive, and I am always tweaking the formula of my commitments to synergise with other activities.

‘Pre-family and streaming I regularly travelled to the UK, USA and Europe to play, but now things are quite different for me. That has taken a bit of getting used to, but it's an ongoing process!’

The new track ‘Thoughts’ is set to be released on Chris’ Soundscapes Digital label (https://soundcloud.com/soundscapesdigital/) early next year.